“I never imagined being on this path.”
When he started high school, Warren Cribbs was focused more on athletics than academics.
“I wanted to be a lacrosse player, and college was just where lacrosse was going to take me,” he recalled.
But now, the Grandview High School senior has taken three years of manufacturing and machining courses at the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus (CCIC), a state-of-the-art college and career preparation facility serving 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students from across the Cherry Creek School District. Cribbs will graduate from high school in December, a semester early, then begin working on a degree in mechanical engineering at Metropolitan State University. He’ll receive tuition assistance from Lockheed Martin, where he has been an apprentice machinist for more than a year.
“I went from a crazy kid my sophomore year, kind of just bouncing off the walls, to now I’m getting my life set and things are going well,” Cribbs said.
He attributes that positive change to CCIC where he discovered a passion for machining and all it entails, from using computer-aided design (CAD) software, to working with 2-D routers, 3-D printers, plasma cutters, waterjet cutters, and Haas milling machines.
“I love the creativity of it,” Cribbs explained. “I love to take things apart and put them back together and play with things. Making things is super exciting to me.”
His love for machining led him to apply for a competitive apprenticeship with Lockheed Martin when he was just 16 years old. He was one of only two students from across the region chosen to be apprentice machinists in the company’s Space division.
“He’s done a lot of unique things that someone who’s 16, 17, probably never even knew existed, much less got to put their hands on,” said Cribbs’ father, Howard Cribbs.
Ashlin Montgomery, Partner of Apprenticeship Success for Cherry Creek Schools, said more than 100 students are currently participating in the district’s Apprenticeship program, which is open to any CCSD student who is 16 or older and takes a Career and Technical Education (CTE) course at their home high school or CCIC. The program provides students with valuable workforce readiness training, such as resume writing, interview skills, and portfolio development, as well as on-the-job experience with companies in a variety of fields.
“It can be in the trades, you can do an apprenticeship for being an electrician, but we’re seeing it in business, in automotive, in Information Technology,” she said. “Our Future Educator apprenticeship is our biggest, most flourishing apprenticeship with 60-plus students. Automotive is blowing up with local dealerships and independent shops.”
All apprenticeships are paid, part-time positions that include an educational benefit, such as an industry certification, concurrent enrollment, so students can earn college credit while in high school, or tuition assistance once students begin post-secondary education.
Warren Cribbs is grateful for the latter.
“It’s really helpful so I don’t have to take out student loans and be in debt right out of college,” he said.
Cribbs and his parents say both the apprenticeship, and his time at CCIC, have already had an incredible impact on his life.
“The Cherry Creek Innovation Campus isn’t just an add-on to traditional education,” Howard Cribbs said. “It’s revolutionizing how we’re preparing the next generation. It’s a game-changer. The classroom learning is there, which we need, but the real-world skills are what CCIC is really bringing. This next-generation stuff has the potential to lift thousands of families into economic stability, job satisfaction, into success. And that’s where it’s led Warren.”
“The people at CCIC, they’re the best people,” Warren Cribbs said. “They’ve helped me out the whole way. They’ve helped me be a better machinist, but more importantly, they’ve helped me become a better man. Realistically, without them, I have no clue where I would be right now.”
Get more information about the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus here.
Get more information about the CCSD Apprenticeship program here.
Posted 10/14/2024.
